At which Philadelphia building did Congress adopt the Declaration of Independence in 1776?

Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1776.

The building was then called the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the meeting place of the Second Continental Congress when delegates debated and approved independence. The structure was later renamed Independence Hall because of its connection with the Declaration and other foundational events.

Independence Hall is part of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The site is also associated with the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when delegates drafted the United States Constitution. This connection makes the building important to both the Declaration’s adoption and the later creation of the federal government.

The building is sometimes confused with Carpenters’ Hall, where the First Continental Congress met in 1774. It is also separate from the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C., where the original engrossed Declaration is displayed today. Philadelphia’s Independence Hall remained the symbolic setting most closely tied to the 1776 adoption commemorated by America250.